[Sca-cooks] Table condiments

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

The table in many Arabic-speaking countries differed from greatly from the Ottoman table. It was apparently common to have a dish with salt, pepper, and cinnamon on the table - according to Ziryab, who was exiled from the 'Abbasid capital of Baghdad and moved to al-Andalus. He derided the local Andalusi custom of a dish with salt, pepper, and cumin, which he considered coarse.

There are a number of extant ceramic dishes with multiple indentations which some museums label as condiment dishes - this would work for salt, pepper, etc., but the spaces are too small for pickles. It is also possible that these dishes were for snacky things such as indigo-dyed pistachio nuts and other nibbles.

There are also a number of extant pickle recipes in Arabic-language cookbooks. Since most of the time all the dishes were served at once, the pickles were likely on the table throughout the meal. The most common pickles were of either of 2 kinds of cucumbers - smooth (as modern so-called Persian pickles, and NOT those horrible gigantic modern cukes) or ridged (as modern so-called English or hot-house cucumber); turnips; pickled raisins; and pickled mint leaves.

Unlike the Ottomans, the Arabic-speakers did not make fruit jams in period. Note i say "Arabic-speakers" because these people are not necessarily all Arabs.

I do not have enough information on the SCA period Persian table.

Urtatim